by Our Sports Desk

ENGLAND captain Charlotte Edwards blamed poor shot selection yesterday as Australia tied the Ashes series 2-2 with a 63 run victory in Bristol.

Edwards got off to a brilliant start, recording her 46th ODI half-century in response to visiting skipper Meg Lanning’s hundred.

But the home side failed to capitalise on their 120-1 start and fell short of what would have been a record-chasing victory.

“Really disappointed,” said Edwards. “We started well and at 120-1 we were in with a chance but we didn’t bat well between 30-40 overs.

“Credit to the Aussies, they bowled well in the powerplay but some poor shot selection has cost us.

“We knew they would come back hard at us. We’ve got to bounce back at Worcester.”

Lanning was delighted with her side’s bowling, with all but one of England’s batswomen bowled out — Heather Knight was run out.

She said: “We looked back at the last game, saw where we could improve in all areas and did that really well.

“We’ve got such great depth in our squad and it was great to see two people come in and perform straight away.

“We bowled straight — the run-out was more luck than anything but it’s always good to get a direct hit.”

Edwards wanted early scalps but Nicole Bolton (37) and Elyse Villani (35) put on 65 for the first wicket.

Rebecca Grundy forced the breakthrough, having Villani caught behind, before Anya Shrubsole bowled Bolton.

But Lanning combined with Ellyse Perry to compile 132 for the third wicket. The former was in brilliant form, though survived on 72 when shelled by Sarah Taylor while Katie Cross could not hold a difficult return catch after the Australian skipper had added 11 more.

Lanning reached her ton from 92 balls before being stumped for 104 off Natalie Sciver with 15 balls of the innings left, by which time Perry had fallen two runs short of a seventh successive ODI fifty when she fell to Heather Knight.

The Aussies in the end set a target of 260.

England’s record successful chase is 243 but their response started well, with Edwards and Knight putting on 92 for the first wicket.

Lanning forced the breakthrough with a direct hit from midwicket to oust a diving Knight, who had been sent back by her skipper after attempting a quick single.

Edwards was soon bowled by Megan Schutt (four for 47) and Amy Jones followed without scoring to Jess Jonassen.

Jonassen took the key scalp of Taylor, who had raced to 43 from 39 deliveries, and when Tuesday’s match winning partnership of Lydia Greenway (20) and Natalie Sciver (3) were both dismissed by Sarah Coyte England’s chances were gone.

Katherine Brunt added a rapid 21 at the death before running out of partners as Australia tore through England’s lower order.